Out for Blood by Alyxandra Harvey

November 2010, Bloomsbury Children's books 

304 pages, Paperback

Review copy 

Young Adult, Paranormal 

Vampires (Some who are sort of the fluffy bunny kind and others who are the distinctively evil kind), traps, ceremonies, royalty, breaking rules, school setting, secrets abound, friends - new & old, teen romance, 

Summary from Bloomsbury

The Drake Chronicles continues, with a glimpse inside the world of a vampire hunter

Hunter Wild just wants to get through her last year at the secret Helios-Ra Academy. To do so, she’ll have to betray her grandfather, date a vampire and possibly take down the entire League – all before the end of term.

Nayuleska's thoughts

In contrast to Blood Feud, where initially I nearly damaged the book on purpose, I hugged this book (and the bookmark) when it came through the post. The Drake Chronicles is an awesome series. Each book concentrates on a different family member. However, I still get to find out what happens to Lucy and Solange. I think the reader benefits by having different point of views, because I get a wider view of the family, and those who end up helping them. Before I get onto the main characters, I have to say that Lucy is as funny as ever - although at one moment I virtually stopped breathing at the scene before me. Solange - I feel sorry for her, still getting used to having changed. A tiny grumpy part of myself would really like to have her view all the time, but I tell that part to be quiet. 

The brother focused on in this book is Quinn. Admittedly I have read an awful lot of books between book 2 and this one, so my memory is a little fuzzy on Quinn. He is a likeable character, has quite a reputation among the vampires, but, like the rest of his brothers, is passionately interested in keeping Solange safe. Naturally Lucy comes under that protection - more so because she is Nicholas' boyfriend. Quinn doesn't have anyone special - not until he meets Hunter. Hunter hates him at first. (Not really, but she tries to convince herself that she doesn't like him. He calls her Buffy! Which kept me laughing). Hunter rules! I was super happy because she's in a school environment - well, she's a vampire hunter at a slayer academy :) They learn to kill vampires (duh) and she's in one of the older years. Unfortunately there's one student she's at constant odds with, and ends up in heaps of trouble (not really surprising). Hunter is highly skilled. She doesn't know everything, but she has lots of good qualities and is a fast learner. 

Whereas Isabeau in Blood Feud preferred to be on her own, Hunter loves staying with her room mate. Okay, she drives her nuts with her lack of housekeeping, but overall Hunter wants to keep Chloe safe. Unfortunately, Chloe acts weirdly in the story. Hunter has her suspicions about the cause of this, but as more students get sicker and disappear,  the more she learns the more she hates what is happening. That's on top of Hel-Blair increasing their activity. The action never stops! Hunter is currently vying in top position with Lucy for amount of attitude within her. It's quite a lot! The difference though is that Hunter was born to hunt (pun intended) and Lucy stumbled into being friends with a special vampire. Plus Hunter's grandfather is a real force to be reckoned with. 

Final conclusion

It will be a very sad day when this series comes to an end. There is still so much to explore, and the layers around all the different factions are slowly being revealed. I simply love it!! 

Make sure you check out book 1, My Love Lies Bleeding and book 2, Blood Feud. The entire series has eye catching covers - with the font the same colour as the main colour of the illustration. 

You can check out a first chapter extract here, and also log in to the Facebook page (or whatever you do on FB. I'm not on it)

Alyxandra has her own site here.